Guard soldier competing in Best Ranger competition

I watched this on TV last year and man, it’s pretty cool what these soldiers and Marines can do. For those who don’t know, the Army holds the Best Ranger Competition every year for graduates of its Ranger School. Rangers are the elite light infantry. They are Special Operations and are basically the Army’s shock troops. Combat-MOS soldiers and others can opt to complete the school, get a ranger tab but not go into a ranger unit.

What this competition allows is for all those who got the tab to compete and see who is the most bad-a@$ soldier. The competition is in April and apparently, there’s a guy from the IANG who is going to compete. He’s a two-time combat vet, having gone to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Matthew Madiar of Chicago is assigned to the Illinois Army National Guard’s Troop C 2nd Battalion, 106th Cavalry Regiment in Aurora and completed Ranger school in September 2010.

Of course, the Guard is thrilled at this and is going to probably tout the hell out of it, but why not. I mean, it’s incredibly hard to make it through the school and the competition is back-breaking. Here’s our guy on the left…

So check it out… Very cool and props to this SSGT for having the desire and the heart and ability.

Author: Andy Kravetz

Andy Kravetz has spent most of the past 16 years covering the area's legal system as well as the military. in that time, he's crawled in the mud, flown in transport planes, and written about a man prosecuted for terrorism. This blog will reflect all those interests and then some.
View all posts by Andy Kravetz